So Much Work Still to be Done
The real estate ad for this property might read something like:
Historic Hyde Park fixer upper. Lots of light, airy interior. Just needs some tuck pointing and TLC.
We all know how real estate ads can sometimes gloss over obvious flaws. Clearly this house needs a new gutter too.
Driving through parts of North St. Louis this past weekend I was reminded about how great our city once was and how much work remains ahead of us. It is one thing to have fewer residents than our peak in 1950 (500K fewer). On paper that is just percentages. On the ground it translates into vast areas with more vacant lots & buildings than current residents. To be sure much of North St. Louis is a bombed out mess but as much or more is like the rest of the city — a wonderful grid of tree-lined streets with well maintained homes. Some blocks have few houses standing while others have only a few gaps.
I visited newly elected 21st Ward Alderman Antonio French at his residence in the 4500 block of Athlone (map), just West of the beautiful O’Fallon Park.
Saturday was the Operation Brightside blitz cleanup day in French’s area. Orange city trucks were everywhere. I drove French through some alleys so he could check the progress in the afternoon. Considerable amounts of debris had been hauled off but we saw tree limbs and tires remaining. One of the few vacant lots in the area is directly across the street from French’s house. But many houses a block over are vacant and need rehab. Many of the homes on the blocks are stately and impressive. Even those in need of major rehab are impressive.
At one time all the infrastructure was new. The houses were new. The businesses were new. Now they are historic. They rival areas in South City for architectural interest. The cost to rehab a house here costs as much as the same house in South City. But the house on the South side will likely have a higher sale price. So the house down South gets rehabbed while the house on the North remains vacant. Somehow we’ve got to find a way to increase interest in all of St. Louis’ neighborhoods. We will never again reach the 850,000+ population we had in 1950 but we need to occupy our structures and build new on our vacant lots.
It is a tall order. Can we do it? Can we afford to not do it?
Depending on the condition of the building, rehab can cost a lot more. Even basic maintenance can be expensive. A $10,000 home repair loan is sometimes just a start. Leverage is key. Whether through home repair programs, donated labor and materials, family participation, or tax credit programs. Picking up trash, illegal dumping, and dead vegetation is a major step, and there are ways to leverage those efforts to. Partnership and leveraging is one way to make these efforts more affordable.
Few variables destroy the value of real estate like depopulation. Once decayed to this point, typically only new growth and tax credits can help create a better future. Many cities on the East coast have been able to revive dilapidated homes but with the expansion of our highways in the Midwest, bringing new growth is highly unlikely. Empty nesters from the burbs don’t want to spend their remaining years rebuilding destroyed properties for a brighter future.
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Restoring these homes take courage, devotion, energy, hope, faith and money. I hope these courageous home owners are rewarded but many of these incentives are undermined by favoritism, tax credits designed for super citizens and Eminent Domain risks. MoDOT and poor leadership are the ultimate trump cards.
Whether we actually “do it” or not, I think it is happening slowly and will continue, however fitfully. Naturally some neighborhoods will rebuild and recover more rapidly than others.
I wish I could see certain key city thoroughfares that have shown such progress in recent decades fifty years and more from now. I think that Delmar will eventually be built back up again, tightly connecting the Loop, the CWE, Grand Center, and Downtown West. It connects them now, strictly speaking, but I mean as a cohesive, commercial/retail mixed-use boulevard, rather than merely a busy thoroughfare with large, intermittent sections of decay. As a “golden spine” down the center of town, its progress will stimulate deteriorated areas to its north.
This thread would be a good place to have a discussion about how some of these things might really happen. A good case in point is the elderly, low income homeowner, living in a large, single family home in need of major repairs. Often times, these homes are owned free and clear, but need many tens of thousands of dollars in maintenance and repair.
The owner is loathe to take on debt, and often the house is the person’s biggest asset. Being on in years, the house has served them well for the past 20-30 years, so they don’t see the point in putting a lot of money into the place now. They figure out ways to get by with as little cash outlay as possible. They want to be able to leave the family home to the kids when they pass on.
Meanwhile, the kids may or may not want the house. And more than likely, everyone has heard about so-called free money (forgivable) home repair loans from the city. They might be willing to sit on a waiting list for five years for a $10,000 grant to repair a roof or front porch.
Given that a large percentage of St. Louis homeowners fit this profile, as a community development advocate, what strategies would you recommend to help stabilize this household and property for the long term?
Historic Tax Credits and tax revenue generating business/improvement district for the 21st would be a good way to start.
Historic tax credits haven’t been much help to low income/ elderly homeowners. The process is too complicated, and they tend to do things on a more piecemeal basis, let alone following the paperwork and design requirements for historic tax credits.
Sounds like your city is experiencing the same thing we’re dealing with in Baltimore. Parts of the city (small parts) are being redeveloped to the tune of millions of dollars, and other parts (the rest of the city) is being largely ignored. As a result, we experienced a glut of poorly-developed homes (one of the reasons why the word “rehab” now makes us cringe) and a glut of vacant blighted homes.
There is, however, a growing movement among some folks, and the Outer Harbor Initiative was developed as a way to bridge the gap between developed and blighted sections of the city. If this passes, maybe St. Louis could use it as a model. You can read about the OHI here:
http://www.outerharborinitiative.com/index.php
The best of luck to you!
^ That pseudonym name/website gave me a chuckle. STL could use something like that!
But what help on the northside? And how to help low income homeowners? The earlier post mentioned leverage. How does that leverage work? What does leverage mean in the context of assisting low income homeowners?
Surely it doesn’t mean leverage as in derivatives or credit default swaps. Such talk would surely frighten an elderly or low income homeowner. So how is it possible to attain the desired results (stabilized, improved properties), when limited funds are available.
The first answer is: action. So the next question is: how? What about bringing in volunteers from area churches? What about focusing more charity at home (here in STL), rather than sending it halfway around the world?
Dumb, it sounds like you’ve gotten it all figured out, so why don’t you save everyone some time and just chart it out, right here in this thread. Perhaps challenging the convictions of those who believe in their ideal of urban environment isn’t the greatest way to solicit ideas or suggestions, but what would I know. Just call me silly. Silly me.
Perhaps area preservationists could help organize old building maintenance workshops for residents, offering skill sharing from professionals for those who can/want to do the work themselves. Maintenance saves money in the long term, and many repairs can be done much cheaper than contractors would like people to think. This idea won’t save north St. Louis, but it’s more than what is being done now. Preservation is about more than digital photos and blogs — it’s about helping people take pride in the built past.
What if neighborhood advocates could work out a donated services arrangement with local plumbers, roofers, and electricians whereby the craftsmen donated 5 hours per month to help low income residents with basic repairs?
John W – We’re trying to raise some ideas for bringing resources to help rebuild North St. Louis. That’s the topic of the post. What would you suggest?
Oh…Steve, never say never! A friend and I have been sensing a mood amongst all of us kids who left our Mid-West or New England roots in our 20s for the big city, NY, SF, LA, ect… now in our 30s we are ready to buy, settle down and are considering moving “back home.” I myself left STL 9 years ago for Chicago and now NY. I miss some of the quaintness and charm, the history and accessibility of living in STL. I still have some reservations about returning-particularly the conservatism, classism,racism, a lack of being able to go anywhere interesting for weekend excursions and, well, no gay marriage in sight.
I really admire what you’re doing there. I am visiting STL this summer for the first time since 2002 to kind of check things out. I guess I wonder if a city under architectural rehab is also reassessing some of its outdated attitudes. Is there anything you recommend I see or do while there? If I move back I would love to get involved as a volunteer in helping to rebuild and revitalize STL. Could you suggest any specific ways to get involved? I would not be open to buying and rehabbing a house at this time, though I will definitely live in the city, if and when I do move back.
Thanks for what you do Steve.
-Ryan
Actually before the whole hog demolition started I believe North St. Louis was denser and held easily as many unique buildings as the South, in fact probably many more.
What I don’t get is how the state can manage to pass a personal multi million dollar tax credit for Paul McKee, but for some reason cannot figure out some sort of tax credit or incentives the elderly can comprehend and feel comfortable with, not to mention the population of small developers and home owners.
Paul McKee got the state legislature to double the amount of tax credit available in a year (this session).
The wealthy insiders have taken over. The state legislature, to a large extent, does not work for the interests of it’s citizens. Instead the state is taking action to reduce the one historic tax credit small scale developers can actually use.
Rather than reducing the amount available, why not eliminate large scale developers such as Jeffery Smith and Paul McKee from using tax credit programs at all?
I for one don’t believe we need their blood money. Properly designed incentives would create jobs and meet the needs of seniors, home owners are everyone else in the City of St. Louis rather than the tycoons. St. Louis was not built by large scale developers and they are not needed now.
It sounds like Baltimore is battling the same problems and not surprisingly a similar question has been asked about TIFs A quote from the Baltimore Sun…. “For instance, the city uses TIFs right now for big developments, like the project in Westport. Is there some version of a TIF that can be used in a neighborhood to help finance [smaller-scale] redevelopment?â€
The point is a great deal can be done with legislation to address these problems if there was a representative government truly concerned about the welfare of the citizens and their communities.
Damn brick stealers, why don’t neighborhood residents fire bullets in close proximity to these thiefs to scare them away!